Students Should Not Be Afraid to Go to School

I grew up in Detroit.  Motown in the 50’s and early 60’s was a wonderful place to be.  Reflecting back, it was almost an idyllic existence for a boy.  My friends and I considered the whole east side our playground.  It was not uncommon on a summer’s day to pack a lunch, and get our bikes to go exploring.  For long excursions we would take the bus downtown or to Tiger Stadium to watch a ball game.  The city was a relatively safe place and we never felt threatened. Somehow, that all changed in 1963 with the assassination of President Kennedy.  Within a few years two more of our heroes would be assassinated and the Vietnam War would escalate.  Still I never personally felt threatened.  As I contemplate the past, I believe one of the reasons I felt safe and secure was because of the environment I was in much of the time.  Our home was a safe place and so was my school. 

I went off to college in Chicago.  The Windy City was an exciting place to live.  The elevated trains and subway allowed me to explore the city.  I especially felt safe and secure on our campus in suburban River Forest.  There was no need for a campus police force.  We kept our dorm rooms unlocked and the building itself was accessible 24/7. 

I contrast that to today when there is even talk of school metal detectors and allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns.  It is difficult for me to identify with such a world.  I spent my last eleven years of ministry in a high school environment.  It was a much different world even ten years ago.  Yet, the truth is it is the environment our students live in today.  As we learned at Sandy Hook, even first grade classrooms are not safe.  Hardly a week goes by when we do not hear of another school shooting.

We should not be surprised that in a recent Pew Research poll 57% of the teens surveyed indicated they worried about a shooting at their school.  Sixty-three percent (63%) of the parents surveyed shared their concern.  It is the world we live in.  The threat of violence has become a reality, but the other abiding truth is the love and security we have in Jesus Christ is the same.  Jesus lived and died in a violent world.  He also conquered that world and along the way defeated death as well.  We need to live confidently in that peace.  We also need to be sharing that peace with the next generation.  The threat might be real, but so is the hope we have in Christ.